Smashburger is a burger chain which has recently come to San Diego. A few months ago, it opened a location in downtown La Jolla. This week, it opened a second location in Del Mar. I had been invited to have a sneak preview prior to the La Jolla opening, but was unable to attend.

So when I got an invite for the Del Mar opening, I was excited to finally participate. As you may recall, I love burgers. So I'm always up for trying new burger spots.

I meant to snap a picture of the front of the restaurant, but I forgot. The Del Mar one is located in the Del Mar plaza, on the street level. It's fairly large and easy to spot.

Food bloggers, PR, and other media were invited to have a sneak preview the day before the grand opening. As part of the sneak preview, we were invited to order whatever we wanted from the menu. You can view the San Diego menu here. The menu consists of various burgers, chicken sandwiches, a few hot dogs, and salads.

I chose to sample the San Diego Smashburger, which includes fresh avocado, cilantro, onions, pepper jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, and chipotle mayo. You have a choice of 1/3 pound or 1/2 pound patty. I chose the 1/2 pound because I like my burgers meaty.I also ordered some sweet potato fries.

The burger came out in a long basket, which I had trouble taking pictures of. I was trying to be quick with my shots, and not draw attention, so it made it a little hard to get good angles. The burger arrived open faced. It looked a bit small when it lay split open like that, but once I put it together, it appeared fuller.

I really enjoyed my burger. The patty was juicy. I loved the chipotle mayo sauce. I had my doubts about cilantro in my burger but it actually worked well with the chipotle mayo. I do wish the avocado was served in slices rather than one round chunk. The best part was that my bun remained unsoggy, a huge pet peeve of mine when eating burgers and something that seems to happen far too often.

All in all, I was pretty happy with my burger. It's not necessarily the best burger, but it's pretty good and it's something I'd go back for again.

The sweet potato fries arrived lukewarm. They still tasted pretty good, but they weren't crunchy. I felt like the side order was a bit small.

BF opted to try the Smashchicken. I don't recall what variation he got, except that there was fresh avocado and bacon. I'm not a big fan of chicken sandwiches, so I only had a bite of his. It was served on a wheat roll. He ordered the Smashfries with his meal.

The smashfries are tossed with olive oil, rosemary and garlic. I could definitely taste all three in the fries. It gave them a different taste from the classic fry, but it was pretty good.

We also ordered a side of fried pickles. I really didn't like this. I thought it was way too salty. I'm not sure if the salt came from the batter or the pickles.

Throughout the night they also passed out samples of their Haagen Daaz milkshakes. We sampled an oreo and a lime one. I liked the oreo but I didn't really like the lime one.

I had a good experience at the Smashburger. The Del Mar location is a bit far though, so next time I go, I'll try the La Jolla location.

I decided I didn’t care if people watch me and wonder why I’m taking pictures of my food. I just try to hurry up so everyone can eat! I missed this one, but I’m going to the Mission Valley one this week. Yay!